


Redress the Lack

by kayliemalinza



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Genre: Flying Dutchman, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-16
Updated: 2007-06-16
Packaged: 2017-10-27 08:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/293625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayliemalinza/pseuds/kayliemalinza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yet another Will-and-James-on-the-Dutchman fic. Because you can't really have enough of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Redress the Lack

**Author's Note:**

> set post-AWE.

Will walked the decks of the Dutchman, learning the crew. Some he had meet during his previous stay on the ship, but they were unrecognizable without their slithery skin and coral reef faces. They enjoyed reminding Will of who they were, still giddy at their transformations. Will stared into their faces and spied desultory remnants: the peculiar bulge of an ear like a hammer-head shark; a spray of pockmarks dotting the skin like barnacles.

One face was immediately familiar.

"Why are you here?" asked Will.

Norrington glanced thoughtfully at the prow. "I believe I died," he said. "But I am not sure why I am still aboard this vessel. I certainly did not elect to join the crew, I was most adamant about that." He scowled, hand unconsciously straying to the pommel of a sword that wasn't there. Will felt an echoed twinge inside his chest.

Norrington clasped his hands behind his back and nodded curtly to Will. "I am not unwilling to crew a ship, if I were so asked. I do not intend to offend your captaincy."

Will smiled, ready to say that no offense was taken, but Norrington caught him suddenly with a hard voice. "However, I will not shirk the fate I have been dealt. I will not shy away from judgment or take refuge in a cowardly shadow-play of life." His eyes were sharp and oddly imploring. Will remembered suddenly how intensely he had admired this man as a child.

"I understand," he said. Norrington's posture was too perfect to be violated, just as it had been years ago on the parapet of Fort Charles when he spoke to Will of care and devotion. Will did what he had wanted to do then and squeezed a hand on Norrington's shoulder. He remembered the young lieutenant teaching a rescued boy to coil rope, to make himself useful and at home. Norrington had visited the smithy before Will had skills enough to even make a horseshoe and ordered his first paid commission: three halfpenny nails, twisted into a paperweight.

Will ignored Norrington's unyielding posture and pulled him into an embrace. He clutched the other man tighter, uncaring of Norrington's shocked inhale and the stiffness of his brocade. Will pulled back and Norrington stared at him, confused and wondrous as if he wasn't sure that he deserved this.

That, thought Will, was more tragic than any early death.

"I'll take you where ever you like," Will said. "Back to the world we once lived in, or onward into death."

Norrington wrinkled his brow. "I don't think—"

"Neither is a coward's way out," Will assured him. "I'm offering this choice as a gift. Please accept it."

Norrington dropped his gaze for a moment. "Thank you," he said quietly. "It would be rude to refuse such a gift, or to take it lightly."

Will clasped his shoulder again because he could, and because at every touch the man softened at the edges just a little more. "Take as long as you need to decide. There's nothing but time on this ship." Norrington shared his wry grin at that. Will stepped away to reclaim the helm, then turned back with a thought. "While you're deciding," he said, "I'd appreciate it if you would help out aboard ship. Maybe coil some ropes."

Norrington smiled, his first real smile that Will had seen on him for years, and shrugged off his Navy coat. "Aye aye, Captain," he said, and went to work.


End file.
